The present invention relates to systems for sharing user credentials in mobile phones, in particular in mobile phones that use SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards.
Mobile phones have become a ubiquitous part of society. A mobile phone is typically owned by a user who makes and receives calls for which the user is billed. In recent years, many additional services have been added to mobile phones. Such services include additional communication options (e.g. text messaging, internet access, broadcast reception, and computer connectivity).
Other services use the communication channel to access and transact with remote service providers (e.g. banks, merchants, and content providers offering music, video, ring tones, and news, for example). There are also services confined to the handset unit (e.g. listening to music, viewing video, playing games, and managing contacts and calendar schedules). Some services use short-range communication (e.g. infrared, Bluetooth, or NFC (Near-Field Communication)) for making payments.
Many of the services that are acquired or consumed with a mobile phone require subscription and identification of the user and/or the user rights. A SIM card is an exemplary standard module that maintains data used to determine the identity and rights of a user. Often a SIM card also carries other user-related data (e.g. contact and calendar databases, and downloaded content). Thus, the SIM card converts a general-purpose appliance into a personalized device by maintaining user credentials (i.e. data identifying the user and/or user rights) and/or content owned by the user and stored in the SIM card.
FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a typical mobile appliance, according to the prior art. A mobile appliance 100 (e.g. a smart mobile phone) is shown in FIG. 1. A credentials module 110 (e.g. SIM card) is a module that identifies the user, his/her billing account, and optionally other access rights the user may have. Credentials module 110 can also store other personal data (e.g. contact list, calendar, internet favorites, sent/received text messages, and content owned by the user). Credentials module 110 interfaces, via an appliance interface 120 and a module interface 130, with appliance services 140. Appliance services 140 represent a services module that includes the hardware and software components of appliance 100 that provide voice and non-voice services. Appliance interface 120 and module interface 130 are typically conventional electrical contacts for operationally connecting appliance services 140, which require the appropriate user credentials, with credentials module 110.
Often a mobile appliance can be connected to another device to extend the functionality of the appliance. For example, a mobile phone can be connected to a car adapter to offer safer driving via hands-free communication; to a desk cradle to offer better sound quality and a more convenient handset; to a personal computer for synchronizing contacts, calendars, and files; or to a Bluetooth headset for hands-free mobile communication.
FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a typical mobile appliance connected to an accessory, according to the prior art. A mobile appliance 100′ includes an accessory interface 150 for operationally connecting to an accessory 160 via an appliance interface 162. Accessory 160 offers improved or additional services that are represented by accessory services 164. Accessory interface 150 and appliance interface 162 are logical, electrical, and/or physical interfaces (e.g. a socket-receptacle connection, a cradle, and a Bluetooth link) that operationally connect appliance 100′ to accessory 160. Current accessories are limited to utilizing the SIM-related services available on the appliance that contains the SIM card, which may be restricted by the features or performance of the appliance.
The user of a mobile appliance can often move the SIM card from one appliance to another appliance, thereby personalizing and activating the second appliance while depersonalizing and deactivating the first appliance. FIG. 3A is a simplified schematic block diagram of two typical mobile appliances, according to the prior art. A first appliance 100A and a second appliance 100B, offering similar or different appliance services 140A and appliance services 140B, are shown in FIG. 3A. A module transfer-operation A is a manual procedure that allows the user to selectively insert credentials module 110 into either first appliance 100A or second appliance 100B, thereby selectively personalizing and activating the current appliance white deactivating the other appliance. Moving credentials module 110, via module transfer-operation A, from first appliance 100A to second appliance 100B is considered to be an inconvenient task.
Prior art systems such as that taught by Carlsson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,868,282 (hereinafter referred to as Carlsson '282), hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, teach methods for a first appliance to read user credentials from a SIM card residing in the appliance, and to transmit the user credentials to a second appliance in which the user credentials are used for obtaining mobile services. FIG. 3B is a simplified schematic block diagram of two typical mobile appliances, adapted from FIG. 3 of Carlsson '282.
FIG. 3B shows how the two mobile appliances (i.e. an MS A and an MS B) communicate with each other to access whichever SIM card (i.e. a SIM card A and a SIM card B). The methods taught by Carlsson '282 are limited by requiring mediation by the main CPU (CPU/MEM of FIG. 3B) of MS A and/or MS B in order to handle a secure exchange of user credentials stored in SIM card A and/or SIM card B, and by requiring both appliances to be operative in order to allow one appliance to use the user credentials of the other appliance.
It would be desirable for users who carry a first appliance, housing a credentials module, to operate a second appliance by coupling the credentials module of the first appliance to the second appliance without having to remove the credentials module from the first appliance.